Secrets of an Arcane Warrior
by Saqin
Summary: All stories have a beginning. This one begins with a hunt, a chance encounter in the forest, and broken glass. Because sometimes, if you're going to live, you first have to die. Mage!Mahariel & OC!Qunari
1. 9:33 4th of Nubulis(3)

**A/N: I have a tendency to get plenty of ideas for different stories, so I've decided to start posting the various scenes as one-shots, but still placing one-shots that concern the same character in one story. That means that this won't be posted in chronological order, but I'll make the date the name of the chapter, so you'll be able to see what order they occurr in. For those of you not familiar with the Thedosian calendar, the information I use can be found on the Dragon Age wiki.**

**This scene is when Hawke and Co. learn about my main character; Shallan Mahariel, and it's the first scene I got an idea for. Shallan Mahariel herself was born when I thought of the Dalish elf origin and wondered what might have happened had the Grey Wardens not recruited her. I'm also taking a lot of liberties in this story. One of them is that instead of a rogue or a warrior, Shallan is a mage with an affinity for bows and some skill with the sword. **

"_'Stories don't always have happy endings.'_

_This stopped him. Because they didn't, did they? That's one thing the monster had definitely taught him. Stories were wild, wild animals and went off in directions you couldn't expect."  
><em>

_- Patrick Ness, _A Monster Calls

**4****th**** of Nubulis 9:33**

In the months following their return from the Deep Roads, everyone had been busy. Varric had been scouring the city and hounding his contacts for any clue that could be found about Bartrand's whereabouts, and though his brother had yet to be found he doubted his brother could elude him much longer. Hawke and her mother had renewed their efforts to reclaim the old family estate, working hard to not have to face the worries concerning Bethany's possible death. They'd gone after the occasional group of bandits or slavers, but most of the time Hawke and her friends saw very little of each other. However, they made a point of meeting up at the Hanged Man a few times every month, and it was on such an occasion that the circumstances surrounding Merrill's studies into blood magic came to light.

As her friends chatted happily around her, Merrill smiled demurely and took a long swig of her ale. Hawke had wanted to discuss a job earlier, so they'd all assembled in Varric's rooms for the evening, instead of the tavern's common room as was usual.

"What's wrong, kitten? You haven't been yourself today." Merrill looked up in surprise as Isabella addressed her. She opened her mouth to deny it as the table grew quiet, but then shut her mouth again and looked down.

"I don't know. It's mad, I'm probably going mad. But I-I could have sworn... Today at the market... It's impossible, but I could've sworn that I saw Mahariel," she finally uttered, voice growing weaker with every sentence. The last word came out as little more than a whisper as a few tears slipped from her eyes.

"Oh kitten," Isabella breathed out as she put an arm around the elf's shoulders and rubbed her back.

"You've never spoken of this Mahariel before, Merrill. Who was he?" Marion Hawe asked sympathetically after a few moments, her former conversation with Varric completely forgotten.

"She was a member of my clan. Shallan Mahariel." She fell quiet and seemed to look at something only she could see, before blinking and once again turning her eyes to her friends. "She was the only one born with magic in the clan for a long time, and should have been the Keeper's First. For some reason however, she did not want to lead, and the clan never tried to make her." A small smile grew on her lips. "Shallan means protector, and that's what she was. She protected her family in any way she could, sometimes completely disregarding her own safety." Merrill pulled in a deep breath and had to blink the tears from her eyes before continuing. "She and Tamlen – another member of the clan – were the ones who first found the mirror I keep in my home, the eluvian. It was whole when they found it, but they did not know what it was. None of us did.

"In Arlathan the eluvianen were used as means of communication or to move between one place and another. Some could even be used to travel to a world beyond this one. Though the one Shallan and Tamlen found on that horrible day worked, it had been tainted by darkspawn. And much like darkspawn, once activated, it had the ability to infect others." Aveline lowered her eyes, remembering her husband as Hawke drew in a sharp breath at the words, her memory of Bethany's weakness in the Deep Roads still sharp in her mind. They'd found the Wardens, yes, but there had not yet been any word concerning her sister's survival.

"Mahariel returned that same day, delirious and sick. The Keeper treated her to the best of her abilities, and she woke two days later to tell us that she and Tamlen had found a strange mirror in some ruins. Tamlen had touched it, he'd seen something inside it, and then it'd flashed white and she remembered nothing more. Shallan said she felt fine, she looked fine." Merrill rubbed her forehead. "So, thinking first and foremost of recovering Tamlen, she, I and Fenarel returned to the ruins while the others began to prepare to travel north. We found darkspawn, but no trace of Tamlen, no sign that he'd ever been there. Shallan used her sword to break the mirror. We thought her rash at first, but she was right to do it.

"Before we where even back at camp Shallan had already begun to pale. It was assumed that she'd overexerted herself, but then she grew worse as the days passed. When Marethari uttered the words that everyone knew, that she'd been tainted by the Blight, Mahariel made up her mind. She left as soon as she'd collected her supplies, not wishing her family to see her die. I doubt that's all there was to it, but that was what she said. We never saw her again, and we never found out exactly what happened with Tamlen. That's why I'm attempting to repair the mirror, because it is the only remaining clue as to what happened to my friends." Merrill fell quiet, and she made no sign of continuing to talk.

"I'm sorry," Hawke began hesitantly. "She sounds like a good woman, I wish I could've met her," she said, but Merrill merely snorted out a laugh and the others looked at her with questions written plainly upon their faces as she smiled thinly.

"No, you really don't. Mahariel might have been kind to fellow elves, but she hated humans. If you'd come across her in the forest she would probably just have shot you before you even knew she was there." Merrill smiled and took another drink from her glass before Isabella squeezed her tighter. The room fell silent as no one knew how to break the silence, but then Varric cleared his throat and started on one of his many stories. It broke the tension, and the next time his eyes strayed to Daisy he was greeted by a thankful smile.


	2. 9:24 9th of Solis(7)

**A/N: This is one of the few events that actually correspond with the games, and though I usually try to avoid those this one is necessary, especially since not everyone have played the Dalish origin or gone through all the dialogue with Tamlen, and this somewhat establishes who Mahariel was before she left her clan. That said, most of the dialogue is taken from the game, with some slight alterations. However, in the game this takes place in the year 9:30, at the beginning of the Blight, which obviously isn't the case here.**

"_But what if all the tranquillity, all the comfort, all the contentment were now to come to a horrifying end?"_

_– __Franz Kafka_

**9****th**** of Solis 9:24**

Frantic steps pounded upon the leaf-covered ground of the Brecilian forest, announcing the presence of the human men to all but the deaf amongst the trees. The male elf with the dirt blonde hair raised his bow and stepped out from behind the trees just as three men came sprinting into the clearing. It took a moment before they saw him, but when they did they quickly stopped and attempted to back-pedal.

"It's a Dalish!" one of the men cried out as he slipped on the ground and fell on his back. Too frightened to think straight, he began to crawl backwards, only to freeze with his fellows when the elf drew his bow taught and aimed at them.

"And you three are somewhere you shouldn't be!" the hunter stated, contempt in his voice. Alert eyes followed every movement made by the three men as one of them took half a step forward and raised his hand in anger.

"Let us pass, elf. You have no right to stop us!" he stated angrily, but the elf merely sneered and raised an eyebrow. The humans' hand wavered slightly and he quickly lowered it again.

"No? We will see about that, won't we?" he said, then without turning he addressed the person whose steps carried her to his side. "You're just in time. I found these... **humans** lurking in the bushes. Bandits, no doubt." The last was said with a sneer. She didn't acknowledge his words, but instead kept both arrow and eyes fixed upon the strangers.

"We aren't bandits, I swear! Please don't hurt us!" the man on the ground called out just before his fellows helped him off the ground. He was shaking like a leaf, and the woman curled her lips in distaste at the sight.

"You shemlen are pathetic. It's hard to believe you ever drove us from our homeland," the male elf said as he narrowed his eyes at them.

"W-we've never done nothing to you Dalish! We didn't even know this forest was yours!"

"This forest isn't ours, fool. You've stumbled too close to our camp. You shems are like vermin – we can't trust you not to make mischief." He sneered in contempt. "What do you think, lethal'lan? What should we do with them?" he asked his friend whose eyes evaluated the humans quickly.

"Kill them – what do I care? The others will never know," she said finally, and if possible the humans only grew more panicked as the two elves looked at each other.

"I like the sound of that. Anything to say in your defence, shems?" he asked with a smirk as he turned his head away from his friend and towards the humans again.

"L – look... we didn't come here to be trouble. We just found a cave." Finally able to find his tongue, one of the men spoke, and the woman narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, a cave! With ruins like I've never seen! We thought there might be, uh..." Another human picked up the line as the two elves sneers grew, before the male elf interrupted him.

"Treasure. So you're more akin to thieves than actual bandits." He scoffed.

"We know this forest. There are caves, but no ruins. You lie," the female cut in, sharp eyes piercing the human that was the last to speak.

"Yes. I've never heard of ruins in these parts," the male elf agreed.

"But I...I have proof. Here... we found this just inside the entrance." Finally collecting some amount of courage, one of the humans stepped forward with a stone that he held up for them to take. The man lowered his bow as the woman kept hers aimed at the human, and surprise grew on his face when he stepped back and laid eyes upon it.

"This stone has carvings... Is this elvish? **Written** elvish?" the man uttered incredulously, and the woman eyed him briefly.

"There's more in the ruins! We didn't get very far in, though..." There was a kind of frantic desperation in the humans' voice as he spoke, but then he trailed off uncertainly.

"This sounds like a trap. Don't believe it," the woman spoke up again, not taking her eyes off of the men for a second.

"A trap? We didn't even know you elves where here! W-we were just trying to find the treasure!" One of the humans protested.

"And this is all you found? Why didn't you look for more?" the male elf asked curiously.

"There was a demon! It was huge, with black eyes! Thank the Maker we were able to out-run it!" A human said, shuddering at the memory. His fear was only met by a scoff from the male elf.

"A demon? Where is this cave?" the elf asked suspiciously.

"Just off to the west, I think. There's a cave in the rock face, and a large hole just inside." The humans had calmed down, but the female was still watching them with narrowed eyes, and the male was still frowning.

"Well? Do you trust them? Shall we let them go?" He turned his head to his companion, at which point a calculative gaze met a questioning one and she shook her head briefly.

"So they can bring a mob to drive us out? Kill them all," she said coldly, and he nodded his acceptance.

"Yes, one could expect no less from a shem," he answered before turning to the humans. "This will not take long." A small smirk, a widening of the eyes on behalf of the humans, and before they'd even begun to run two of them fell dead from arrows piercing their throats. The third turned tail and ran, but he'd barely gotten five feet when the shaft of another arrow sprouted through his chest and he was brought down upon the cold ground.

The elves turned to each other as they put away their bows, not bothering to check the bodies.

"Well, shall we see if there's any truth to their story? These carvings make me curious," the male elf asked and smiled at his companion.

"Shouldn't we inform the keeper?" she asked thoughtfully, any sign of anger already gone from her face.

"Well, it's true she might be interested in these carving, but let's see if there's anything more before we get excited. Besides, we're already here. Now, they said it was to the west..." he trailed off as he turned around in the direction from which the humans had been running. She sighed and rolled her eyes, but she was smiling when she set of after him.

∞†∫†∞

"This must be the cave. I don't recall seeing this before, do you?" Tamlen asked as he came to a stop before the dark opening.

"No, and I don't think we should go in alone," she answered carefully, eyes scanning every surface she could see. He raised his eyebrows at her incredulously.

"It's unlike you to be scared. There's nobody else here. And I'm not running back for help unless there's something worth making a fuss over. Come on, let's at least see what's there. How dangerous could it be?" he asked with a quirk of his lips, and she scowled at him.

"I'm not scared, I'm being cautious. There's a huge difference." He smirked in response, but she merely rolled her eyes and headed for the opening. "Let's go then Tamlen," she called back irately over her shoulder when he took a moment too long before following, and he held back a chuckle as he jogged a few steps to catch up with her.

They did not have to walk far into the cave before they reached the stone doorway that heralded the entrance to the ruins, and Tamlen was looking around with some cross between surprise and curiosity when he spoke. "It... looks like the shem was telling the truth. But these ruins look more human than elven," he uttered absent-mindedly. Shallan answered with a non-committal grunt as her eyes scanned over the space beyond the door when she stepped through. Large roots had grown through the roof of the room long ago, and both floor and walls were broken in places. But despite it all, the structure seemed oddly stable.

The light had grown worse the further inside they ventured, and Shallan diverted some of her attention to send up a light above her to illuminate their surroundings. There was a door on the far side of the room, and she headed for it when suddenly a screeching noise sounded from behind her.

"Spiders!" Tamlen called out in warning, and Shallan spun on her feet even as she drew her two-handed blade to face the large critters that were descending from previously unnoticed holes in the roof. Tamlen had drawn his bow and was already shooting at one of them, and the female elf ducked under the one closest to her to slash at its abdomen. The creature shrieked just as the other touched down on the floor and snapped after Shallan, and the woman brought her sword up to block its oversized beak as another of Tamlens' arrows pierced its thick hide, distracting the creature long enough for her to strike at one of its front legs. The appendage came clean off, and the animal snapped after her as it struggled to regain its upset balance. Another arrow left Tamlens' bow, piercing the head and the cretin shrieked in pain as it drew in its legs and collapsed dead on the floor.

Only a scuttling noise alerted Shallan enough so she could throw herself out of the reach of the remaining spider as it tried to catch her, and the sticky web covered a square meter of the space where she'd just been standing. She turned back in time to see one of Tamlen's arrows pierce two of its legs and impede its movement, and then with a few running steps she raised her blade above her head and brought it down where the head connected to the rest of the body. The head was only halfway severed, but it was enough for the animal to curl up and die.

They stood still for a few moments more with their weapons drawn, only their slightly elevated breathing breaking the silence of the underground chamber, and then Tamlen slung his bow over his shoulder and cleared his throat.

"Well, that was fun," he said with a wink, to which Shallan only replied with a quirk of her lips as she sheathed her sword and withdrew two empty vials as she crouched down by the overgrown bodies. She avoided the blood as best she could as she brought one of the vials to the first spiders' venom gland and cut it open with her knife. When she'd extracted the venom from both of the spiders she sealed the vials and stored them away in a pouch around her middle.

Tamlen had a look of mild disgust on his face when she looked back at him, and she smirked before heading through the door that lead further into the structure. He followed after only a moment of hesitation.

Though the light which Shallan sent up into the air illuminated the space around them for a few meters, the surrounding area was pitch dark, and Tamlen fiddled with his hunting dagger as he listened intently.

"This place makes me nervous," he finally uttered, glancing around them, and Shallan half turned to see him as they reached a crossroads and stopped for a few moments.

"So talk, if that will calm you down," she said with a somewhat amused smile.

"I suppose so... hey, weren't you supposed to be assisting Master Ilen today? How did you end up coming with me?" he asked curiously, fidgeting less as he focused more on their conversation and less on their surroundings.

"I wanted to be with you, of course." Her answer was matter of fact and said with a shrug of her shoulders, and his answering smile was so brilliant that for a moment she thought it might light up the room. The butterflies fluttering in her stomach brought her back to the conversation in time to hear his answer.

"I... thought that might be the case. I'm glad," he said finally, and Shallan answered his smile with one of her own. She reached out with one of her hands and held on to his for a few moments, not doing anything else but watching as his face coloured, and when she finally let go she took a step back and cleared her throat.

"What do you think all this is?" she asked, redirecting both of their attentions to their current situation, and he shook his head slightly to clear his head before answering.

"I'm not sure. This looks like a very old human place. Why did they build this? And why would elven artefacts be here? Maybe some of our ancestors lived here, in caves like the dwarves. I'll stick to roaming the land, myself." He was suddenly very enthusiastic, and she smiled again at the sight, observing the way his face lit up as he spoke about the ancient elves.

"This doesn't feel like anyone's home though," Shallan answered as they started down the left hand path after she'd used magic to mark the path they came down.

"I don't know. I have this odd sensation that we've... disturbed something. Like we just walked into a dragon's lair…" he uttered nervously, still letting his eyes roam across the corridor without stopping. Then, in a vain attempt of bravery, he perked up and continued. "Well, whatever it is, it... it won't stop me. A Dalish hunter fears nothing!" Shallan chuckled at that as they pushed open an old door and stepped through. Reacting quickly, she ducked down and rolled to the side out of the way of the web shot that one of the four spiders in the room had aimed at her, and she drew her sword as she got up off the floor. Tamlen drew his bow and stepped aside enough that the web wouldn't hit him before he took up position just outside the doorway and began to shoot at the closest spider.

The skirmish was over fairly quickly, and as Shallan bent down to extract the remaining venom from the spiders she once again struck up conversation. "Why did you want to come down here so badly?"

"Aren't you curious? We could be discovering our history. Minstrels will write songs about us!" Tamlen answered enthusiastically as he averted his eyes from her work and instead tried to recover his arrows from the spiders. When Shallan next looked at him she was smiling teasingly.

"You aren't fooling me Tamlen," she said with a smirk, and he deflated a bit as he gave her an apologetic and slightly embarrassed smile.

"If I were to bring back some ancestral artefact to the Keeper, she might forgive me for... well, you know," he trailed off with a grimace, but Shallan did not look up to see it.

"We were both brawling. I don't see why you got punished," she said as she finished with the third spider, and Tamlen shrugged.

"Because I was caught and wouldn't give up any names. Of course she was angry at me," he answered, and though he attempted to appear unaffected, it was obvious to her that he was slightly annoyed about the matter.

"Thanks for covering for me, by the way," Shallan said with a thankful smile, and Tamlen smiled back as he shrugged his shoulders and cleared his throat.

"Of course. You know I'd do anything for you," he answered, attempting to sound unaffected. But Shallan had only just finished with the last of the spiders, and gave him a smile as she patted his back and tried one of the doors. It didn't open, so she headed over to the other one which gave way at once.

∞†∫†∞

It was after several more spiders and a couple of traps that flung fire at them that they reached yet another crossroads in the corridor and found an old statue just opposite a large door.

"I can't believe this. You recognize this statue, don't you?" Tamlen asked enthusiastically as he stepped closer to the statue and looked it over.

"It's worn, but it looks vaguely familiar..." Shallan answered hesitantly, not quite realising why he was so excited.

"Back when our people lived in Arlathan, statues like these honoured the Creators. When the shems enslaved us, much of that lore was lost. This looks like human architecture... with a statue of our people. Can these ruins date back to the time of Arlathan?" Shallan smiled at the way his face lit up with all the thoughts that went through his head from this new mystery, it reminded her of how he and Merrill would be pouring through a book or discussing something they'd read or been told while she and Fenarel attempted to get the two to play with them. They'd succeeded often enough, but a lot of the time it was Shallan and Fenarel who went and explored new places and then pulled the other two with them later. Shallan and Tamlen had always done a lot together, and they were hunting partners, but some of the time he could really get lost in the old stories.

"It's interesting. So much of our past is lost to us," Shallan said, for even if she wasn't as enthusiastic as her friends, all of them at least had some interest in the ancient stories.

"I'd never have guessed ancient elves might have lived here! With humans!" he exclaimed, and Shallan's smile grew wider at his enthusiasm.

"How do you know all that about the statue?" she asked when they turned away from it, eyes flickering all over the hallway.

"I saw a picture of it in one of those old books the keeper never lets anyone touch. It was one of the old gods. The keeper called him a 'friend of the dead'," Tamlen answered as he eyed the door across from the statue.

"'Friend of the dead'? What does that mean?" Shallan furrowed her brows in confusion and turned back to her friend.

"He was a guide who took people across the spirit land to their final rest in the Beyond. But he wasn't an evil god, not like Fen'harel – the Great Wolf. It doesn't seem right that a place so... wrong... would be his," Tamlen said as they walked towards the door, and he was just trailing off when Shallan stepped onto the stone platform in front of the door and the sound of stone grinding against stone was heard as the platform suddenly sunk a few inches into the ground and green smoke billowed out from small openings in the walls. The two of them drew their weapons as they looked around themselves, noticing a couple of skeletons heading towards them with drawn weapons.

Unable to avoid breathing any longer, they finally had to draw in some of the smoke, and instantly the hallway was filled by the sounds of coughing as Shallan made her way towards the outer edge of the smoke to intercept one of the creatures. Tamlen darted out of the smoke as quickly as he could and nocked an arrow on his bow, letting it loose on the other creature while Shallan brought her sword to bear against the first.

The fight was finished quickly despite the distraction, and Shallan rolled her shoulders as she shifted her sword to only hold it in one hand whilst Tamlen brought up the rear, already having nocked another arrow. She glanced back at him to make sure he was ready, and then brought her hand up to the door handle and pushed it inwards.

A growl met their ears only moments before a large, lumbering monstrosity came running at them, and though the woman backpedalled as quickly as she could there was no time to bring her sword up for a proper swing. So instead she took a deep breath and as she breathed out ice flew from her fingertips, engulfing the beast in a white whirlwind and giving the two elves a quick breather and enough time to bring their weapons to bear. The few seconds that passed before the beast broke the ice was enough for Tamlen to let loose one arrow and nock another, and Shallan's sword was already descending on its neck when the beast shook off the cold. Because the beast turned at the last minute, her sword glanced off its right shoulder, and she had to roll out of the way to avoid the large paw that tried to strike her.

"What is it?" Tamlen asked when the creature was finally dead and he'd slung his bow back over his shoulder and Shallan had sheathed her sword.

"Some kind of corrupted bear, perhaps. I haven't ever seen anything like it," she answered as she crouched by the large beast, which though it was shaped like a bear looked nothing like it.

"Maybe," Tamlen said as his light blue eyes drifted across the room, finally coming to a stop on the large mirror in the middle. "Oh," he breathed out as he stepped closer, and Shallan lifted her eyes from her examination of the strange bear to see what had caught his attention. She stood when she caught sight of the mirror, taking a few steps closer to stand beside him.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? I wonder what the writing says." She eyed him sceptically, vary of the stone platform and statues, but most of all of the strange mirror with a surface as smooth as a calm lake.

"'Do not touch the glass'?" She answered him sarcastically, though the wariness never left her eyes, and Tamlen laughed brightly as he approached the mirror.

"Not that we'd leave a fingerprint on it. See how clean it is? Not a single smudge or crack. I wonder what this writing is for? Maybe this isn't... Hey, did you see that?" Her brow furrowed as he stepped even closer, eyes not leaving the mirror for a single moment.

"See what?" Shallan asked, far less light-hearted than before as her hand fingered the sword on her back. In a moment, whatever humour had been present in the room disappeared, and a hard feeling lodged in her throat.

"I think something moved inside the mirror," he said in response, and her brow furrowed further as her voice took on a warning tone.

"Get away from it, Tamlen..." Her stance was defensive, divided, as she warred with her body concerning whether to run or try and do something.

"Hold on, I just want to know what it is. Don't you see it? There it is again! Can you feel that? I think it knows we're here. I just need to take a closer look... It's... showing me places... I can see... some kind of city... underground? And... there's a great blackness..." With every word out of his mouth she grew more alarmed, even more so when he started to sound worried. The hardness in her throat almost kept her from speaking, but as she headed towards him she finally managed to utter some words.

"Tamlen, please..." He'd grown pale, the hand he'd raised was twitching, and now even Shallan could see the ripples spreading across the mirrors surface, the way it had grown darker as her friend looked at it.

"It... it saw me! I can't look away!" She'd almost reached him when he uttered the panicked words, but by then it was too late. A bright light filled the room, and as she closed her eyes to protect them there was a brief sensation of flying before something sharp connected with the back of her head and a sharp pain heralded her descent into darkness.


	3. Author's Note

**This Author's note is being posted as an update on all my stories, so you don't have to read all of them if you've got all of them on your alert list. **

I've been considering posting on AO3 for quite some time now, partly because the system there seems so much better, both in regards to finding stories and publishing them, and because fanfiction dot net just feels like jumping through hoops whenever I post something new. Not to mention the fact that it isn't the only place I post to.

So, as of a few days ago all of the stories I've got available on fanfiction dot net are posted on AO3 (archiveofourown for those who haven't heard of it) under the username Saquira and any new updates will be posted there instead of on ff dot net. I'm leaving my stories as they are here, but I won't be updating to this site any longer.

Thank you to everyone who've read my stuff and commented on it, I hope you'll continue to read despite the change.


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